September, Year 1

The last day of summer vacation.

Gwen tried to focus. She'd been working on her laptop for most of the drive today, which had been completely silent for the past hour. Normally she'd have to deal with Ben's antics and find a way to work through the annoyance, but he'd gone to sit up front with their grandfather after their last verbal sparring match.

"From superhero back to plain old super geek. Have fun back at school!"
"Well, there is one good thing about my school."
"What?"
"You don't go there!"

Ben hadn't even given her a chance to come up with a comeback. The Doofus had just declared himself the winner and run away. So him.

That's what must be bothering me.

As much as Gwen hated to admit it, she could be just as immature as Ben. She hated when he got the last word, even when they were just trading meaningless insults like they had been an hour ago.

But I've got to get this done, so stop thinking about him!

Since school would be starting up again tomorrow, Gwen was busy making her schedule for the first month. But progress had been slow for the past hour. She'd figured out the first week flawlessly. She had it packed with activities, like her karate classes, and she left plenty of time for homework. She might only be in fifth grade, but she knew not every teacher will be lenient just because it's the beginning of the year. And she'd figured it all out while fending off Ben.

But as soon as Ben got up and left the table, it was like he'd stolen her productivity and taken it with him. She was still trying to plan out her second week, and she kept second-guessing herself.

What if I have to do more homework on Thursday because there's probably gonna be more assignments due Friday? And what if karate goes over a bit on Wednesday, and Mom's late to pick me up, and then there's traffic. I could be late for tutoring!

And of course, the clever quips and witty jabs she could have made at Ben kept popping into her head. Every few minutes, she had another 'That's what I should have said!' moment.

"Ugh!" Gwen groaned. She turned in her seat to glare at the back of Ben's headrest.

He's probably sitting up there with that smug look on his stupid face.

Gwen turned to sit back in her seat. "Doofus," she said under her breath.

I shouldn't have said that.

Ben thought that to himself for the 50th time. He glanced over to the driver's side to make sure his grandfather wasn't looking at him. Ben had been trying to keep up a fake smile or a blank face, but he knew he looked guilty every time he had that thought. He hated guilt, and the only thing worse than feeling guilty is someone else pointing out that he felt guilty. He could hear his grandfather's voice in his head already.

Now Ben, it's your last day of summer vacation. You should try to be nicer to your cousin. Who knows how long it'll be until you get to see her again?

Shut up, Grandpa!

His inner voice yelled at his other inner voice. He glanced nervously at his grandfather again to make sure he hadn't suddenly developed the ability to read minds. After the summer they'd just had, you never know.

This is all Gwen's fault.

That's what Ben thought. Of course he did. He didn't expect his joke to be the end of that match. Usually Gwen could keep up a volley of insults for way longer than that, but for some reason she'd just sat there with a weird look on her face, like she'd actually been hurt by one of his insults for once.

That's NOT how it's supposed to work!

Not knowing how to react, Ben had gotten up and gone to sit up front. And now here he was, trying too hard to act like nothing was bothering him. He knew his grandfather could tell though, he always could. But Ben was hoping his grandfather would just assume he was upset about summer ending.

Ben hated school, and that was no secret. He dreaded the end of summer every year. This year was no different, except he dreaded it even more.

Back to school. Back to total normal, boring Bellwood. No more crazy adventures, no more going hero, and no more Gwen.

Had he said that thought out loud, he'd have turned that into a joke, like "Well, that last one ain't so bad." But for some reason, that part of it was as depressing to him as the rest of it. And that shouldn't be. "Dweeb," he muttered to himself.

When they arrived in Bellwood, Max pulled up to the curb outside Ben's house. The three of them exited the Rust Bucket and stood on Ben's lawn. Max and Gwen stood side by side, facing Ben. "I want you to know," Max said, kneeling down to Ben's level. "This summer may not have turned out the way I planned, but I wouldn't have changed a single second of it."

Gwen scowled.

I would have.

"Me neither, Grandpa," Ben said earnestly. "Thanks." He smiled and gave Max a hug.

"Thank you," Max said. "You gave this old Plumber new life." He stood up. "It was an honor fighting side by side with you, Benjamin Tennyson." Max held out his hand.

Ben placed his bag on the ground and shook his grandfather's hand. "Heh, you weren't so bad yourself," he said. All of a sudden, Ben was tackled from behind. His dog had spotted him and came running. Ben lay on the ground, laughing in pure joy as his dog stood on top of him.

Having noticed their arrival, Ben's parents came outside to greet them.

"Ben!" his mother called out to him, running across the lawn to give him a way-too-tight hug and a way-too-embarrassing-in-front-of-Gwen kiss. His father walked over and knelt down to give him a hug as well.

"H-Hey, eh, Dad," Ben's father said awkwardly, standing up and turning to face Max.

"Son. Good to see you," Max said, shaking his son's hand.

Ben had always noticed his father and grandfather never seemed that close. Now that he knew about Max's secret life that not even his children knew about, he was beginning to understand why. The thought worried him, but his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his cousin's voice.

"Hey, Uncle Carl! Aunt Sandra!" Gwen ran past Ben to greet his parents.

"Hi, Gwen!" Ben's mom said, giving her niece a hug. "Now I know you and Ben have had your differences," Sandra put her hand on Gwen's shoulder, "but I hope his personality grew on you this summer." Ben's parents had always wished the two of them could get along better.

"I suppose one or two of them weren't all that disgusting," Gwen smirked, turning her head towards Ben, who turned his head away from her in annoyance. Ben's parents gave each other a confused look, the reference to Ben's Omnitrix aliens lost on them.

After a little more small talk, Max said it was time for him to take Gwen home before climbing back into the Rust Bucket. As Gwen followed him, Ben stopped her.

"So, I guess I'll…" Ben began.

"Smell ya around?" Ben and Gwen said in unison.

"I'd say 'I'll miss you,' but, uh…" Gwen started.

"I wouldn't wanna lie!" They said together.

The two of them shared a smirk, one of the most vaguely friendly moments the two of them had had all summer, before Gwen climbed aboard the Rust Bucket as well. She had a serious look on her face as she considered that moment she and Ben had just had.

Did that...mean anything?

As her grandfather drove away, Gwen went to the back of the Rust Bucket and pushed the curtains on the back window aside. She saw Ben still standing on the sidewalk in front of his house. She was surprised. She'd expected him to have gone inside by now. The two of them made eye contact. It was hard to tell from this distance, but Gwen saw Ben give her a small smile and a nod, which she happily returned.

Ben stood on the sidewalk for another minute until the Rust Bucket was long out of sight. His smile slowly turned into a frown, and he hung his head glumly.

"You alright, son?" Ben heard his father ask him. He'd forgotten they were there.

"Uh, yeah," he said, turning to walk towards his front door. He wasn't sure why he was suddenly feeling down, so he tried to hide it with a vague smile as he and his parents entered the house.

Like Ben, Gwen had remained standing in place, looking out the back window, long after her cousin was out of sight. The look she and Ben had shared just a few moments ago was captivating.

Did THAT mean anything?

She wasn't sure why exactly Ben had smiled at her and given her a nod like that, but for some reason it had made her happy. Still smiling, she made her way to the front of the Rust Bucket and sat down in the passenger seat next to her grandfather.

"That happy to be rid of him, huh?" Max jokingly asked, noticing her smile.

"What? Oh, uh, yeah. Totally," Gwen gave a forced laugh and tried to avoid eye contact. She wasn't sure if she'd ever sounded less convincing in her life.

When they arrived at Gwen's house, Gwen and Max stepped out of the Rust Bucket. Just like he'd done with Ben, Max gave Gwen a few parting words on her front lawn.

"Gwen, I know this summer was even more different from how you planned it, but I hope your cousin and I managed to at least make it fun for you, too," Max said.

Gwen had mixed feelings. A thousand flashbacks tore through her mind at once. Some of them scary. Some of them infuriating. But some of them...pleasant. She smiled softly. "It was fun, Grandpa," she said sweetly. "And I'm really glad I could be there for it." She stepped forward and gave her grandfather a hug.

"Well I'm glad, Gwendolyn Tennyson. And even though he might not say it, Ben was glad to have you with us, too," Max said.

Gwen had some even more conflicted thoughts about that.

Was he?

"Now, let's bring your stuff inside. You must be dying to see your parents again after all this time." Max grabbed several of Gwen's bags and carried them to her front door.

Gwen rang the doorbell and opened the door. "Mom, Dad! I'm home!" she called out as she and her grandfather entered.

There were footsteps down the hall, and Gwen's parents came around the corner.

"Ah, Gwen! Welcome back, honey," Gwen's father greeted her.

"Welcome home, dear," her mother said.

Gwen walked up to them and gave them both a hug.

"Hello, Dad. How nice to see you," Frank greeted Max amicably, shaking his hand.

"Good to see you too, son."

"Thanks again for taking Gwen with you on such short notice," Natalie joined in, also giving her father-in-law a handshake. "I hope it wasn't too much trouble."

Gwen tensed up a little at her mother's words. She looked up at her grandfather.

"It was no trouble at all! We were thrilled Gwen was able to join us this summer. In fact, I hope she can make it again next year!" Max said.

After another minute or two of small talk, Max decided it was time to head out. Gwen's family said their goodbyes and saw him out the door. Then Gwen and her parents grabbed her bags and carried them upstairs to her room.

"Alright, then. Is that everything?" Frank asked, placing Gwen's stuff on the floor.

"Yep. Thanks, Dad," Gwen said.

"Frank, would you mind getting dinner started?" Natalie asked her husband.

"Sure thing, honey." He left the room and headed downstairs.

Gwen was now alone with her mother. "Well, Gwen?" Natalie asked. "How did your summer turn out?"

Gwen blinked. She knew there was a lot she couldn't tell her mother, but hopefully she wouldn't ask for too many details. "It was great, Mom," she said with a grin.

"Good to hear," Natalie said. "And how was Ben?"

Gwen hesitated again, staring into her mother's eyes. There was a lot she could say about Ben after that summer, and also a lot she shouldn't say. "I...I think he's certainly changed a lot," she said. "And...I'm glad I went with him."

Natalie nodded. "Good. Very good. Well, unpack your things and get ready for dinner. You have school tomorrow, so make sure to get started on your schedules."

Gwen nodded. "Okay, Mom."

Natalie left the room and Gwen began to unpack.

Thanks, Mom.

October, Year 1

Grey Matter put his pencil down and stood on the desk triumphantly. Perfect timing too, because the Omnitrix chose that moment to start beeping, indicating it was about to time out. Ben jumped back into his desk chair just in time to turn back into himself. He lifted up the piece of paper that had his homework on it. As he read it, none of it made sense. A few seconds ago, it had all been so clear to Grey Matter. The hardest part was holding the pencil, which was almost as big as he was.

Ben smirked. "Pfft, whatever. Not like my teacher can tell I don't know what the heck I'm talking about." But after a moment, his smirk faded. He knew exactly what Gwen would say to that.

If you don't understand it, you're not really learning anything. And besides, it's cheating. And Grandpa told you not to use the Omnitrix, it could be dangerous!

"I know…" Ben groaned to himself, leaning back in his chair. Then he shot up straight. "Wait, what? What do I care what the Dweeb would think?!" He stood up and started pacing. "And it's not cheating, I'm not having someone else do my work, I am Grey Matter! And dangerous? I live for dangerous! I did dangerous all summer!"

Ben stopped pacing and sat back down at his desk. He stared at the finished homework in front of him. "It's finished. I can do whatever I want now," he said to himself. He turned in his seat, eyeing a stack of comics he hadn't read yet. But he kept sitting there, and turned back to stare at that piece of paper. He sighed, picking it up, crumpling it into a ball, and tossing it into the trash can. Then he grabbed a new piece of paper and got started again, but as himself this time. "I hope you're happy, Dweeb," he said under his breath.

Over at her house, Gwen wasn't having the easiest time with her homework either. She didn't get why she was having trouble reading through this textbook. It was a subject she loved, and it wasn't like the wording was too advanced for her or anything. But every time she started reading, by the end of the paragraph, her mind had drifted off again. She was never gonna get through it at this rate.

"Ugh," she leaned back in her chair and clasped her hands to her head exasperatedly. After a few moments, she leaned forward again and looked back at the textbook. She wasn't reading it this time, just looking at it. Then she smiled as an idea came to her head. With a few hand movements, a blue disc of magic formed beneath the textbook and lifted it into the air.

"Heads up!" she shouted, turning to launch it at Ben. Her smile faded instantly when she came back to reality. She wasn't in the Rust Bucket. She was in her room. Alone.

"Ahh!" she screamed in frustration. Her magic disc disappeared, dropping her textbook to the ground. She threw herself onto her bed, turned onto her back, and stared at the ceiling. This had been happening a lot since she'd gotten back home. She just kept thinking about last summer. It's what kept popping into her head whenever she tried to read that textbook.

She used to love school. It's why Ben started calling her Dweeb, and why everyone else would call her a geek or a nerd. This time last year, she'd have been flying through that textbook, no problem. But now, after everything she'd been through during the summer, school just seemed so boring. She didn't like that thought.

That sounds like something Ben would say.

"Ben," she said in a ticked off voice. "That jerk. Him and his stupid watch. Why'd the Doofus have to go and make summer so fun?"

The frustration in Gwen's face was quickly replaced by embarrassment. She sat up and looked around her room, irrationally afraid that someone might have heard her admit that. Satisfied no one did, she collapsed back into her bed with a long exhale. She needed to relax.

But I still have to do my homework.

Wordlessly, Gwen climbed out of bed and sat back down at her desk. She managed to get through a paragraph and a half before she started daydreaming about her and Ben kicking Charmcaster's butt.

Ben had managed to turn in what he hoped was a satisfactory homework assignment. At the very least, he'd answered every question. He just didn't think most of them were answered correctly. He wished the teacher could give him a little extra credit as a reward for playing fair rather than using his alien superpowers to turn into a genius. But he guessed they didn't have a policy for that at his school.

Most of September's assignments had been easy enough, since they were mostly review of last year's material to shake the rust off after summer vacation. But this month was suddenly much harder. His teacher told his class that it was to prepare them for middle school, which would be much more difficult than elementary school. Of course, then middle school would be harder to prepare you for high school, and high school would be harder to prepare you for college. Ben thought that was stupid. Everything was just preparation, and he wasn't even sure what they were trying to prepare him for.

When Ben got home from school that day, he dropped his backpack on the floor and immediately went to play video games. He had more homework to do, but as long as he could do it later, he didn't want to do it now. This kept him occupied for about a half an hour, but even though he normally loved the game he was playing, he found himself quickly growing bored of it. Something about it was just lacking. He wasn't sure what was wrong. He'd played it all the time in the Rust Bucket last summer. He was even able to beat Gwen most of the time.

Gwen.

Ben leaned back in his seat and put down his controller. Maybe that was it. Maybe the single player mode was just lame. He still had an extra controller. He could just call Gwen and see if she wanted to come over.

Ben pulled out his phone and opened Gwen's contact, but then he hesitated. He realized it had already been nearly a month since he and Gwen had gotten home from their summer trip, and they hadn't so much as texted each other since.

What do I even say to her?

He couldn't just invite his cousin over to his house, could he? Even though they lived in the same town, he usually only saw her during family gatherings. Last summer was an exception. It didn't mean they were just going to start hanging out now, did it? After all, if she'd wanted to, wouldn't Gwen have asked to hang out with him by now? Ben scoffed at himself for even having this idea. He could imagine what Gwen would say if he called her now.

That's it? You want me to come over to your house to play video games with you? What, do you not have any friends? Hahaha, what a loser!

Ben put his phone back in his pocket. He sat there for a few minutes, thinking he might change his mind and just do it anyway. He stared at the pause screen on his TV for a bit. When he decided he didn't want to play anymore, and he was sure he wasn't gonna invite Gwen over, he got up and turned the game off.

Guess I'll do my homework.

Ben dreaded it, but he had nothing better to do. So he brought his backpack to his desk, sat down, and pulled out his workbook. The first assignment he had written down was for math. He took a look at the problems. The first one was kind of simple, and he managed to figure it out. But the next one just seemed impossible. He tried skipping it and moving on to the next problem, but it was basically the same thing.

Screw this.

He put his hand on the Omnitrix and turned the dial to Grey Matter. But right before he went hero, he stopped himself. He'd been through this yesterday.

Oh, come on!

He was pissed at himself for suddenly having work ethic when he could've just gotten it done with zero effort. But he let his watch arm drop to his side. He was gonna have to do this the hard way.

If I can't do this as myself, and I can't do this as Grey Matter, then how can I do it?

Ben tried to think of who he could ask for help. He went through a mental list of kids in his class, but he realized he wasn't really friends with any of them. And even if he was willing to ask them, he didn't even have their numbers. His parents weren't home either. After eliminating those options, only one other person came to mind.

Gwen.

Ben facepalmed. Was he really thinking of Gwen again? It was like she had a talent for ruining his life even from afar. He could already imagine what she'd say about this.

That's it? You want me to help you with your homework? What, are you too stupid to do it yourself? Hahaha, what a moron!

"Ugh," Ben groaned in frustration. He took another look at his homework. He'd been able to make enough sense of everything yesterday to turn in a completed assignment. If he worked at it long enough, he could do it again today. It would just take awhile.

He considered the option of calling Gwen again. He knew she was smart, as if she'd ever let him forget it. If he got her help, he'd surely get this done way faster. But could he give her the satisfaction of having him crawl to her for help like that?

Screw it. I'll just do it myself.

Gwen stared at her laptop screen. A completely blank November calendar stared back at her. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, but they didn't move to tap the keys.

What's the point?

When she thought about it, the hard limits of her schedule were already memorized. She knew what hours of what days were spent in school. She knew when she had karate. She knew when she had all her other obligations. And any other events that came up irregularly would be drilled into her head by her mother repeating it ad nauseum.

Beyond things of that nature, the rest of her schedule making revolved around carving out sections of her time to devote to her homework. However, for the end of September and most of this month, she hadn't really stuck to her schedule. Granted, her schedules this year were far more shoddily made than in previous years, but they didn't even matter in the end. Sometimes she'd take so long doing her homework, the time slot would be over before she'd finished and she'd have to find more time for it later anyway. Why bother scheduling time for homework when just saying 'get it done whenever you have free time' would be just as effective?

Gwen buried her face in her hands and moaned.

Have I just been wasting my time with this crap for years?

The possibility was frustrating. She didn't usually doubt herself like this, especially when it came to anything relating to her schoolwork. But something was different now. She was different now. And she knew exactly who to blame for that.

It's all his fault.

Some of Ben's careless attitude must have rubbed off on her over the summer. Plus all the times things didn't go as planned, yet somehow worked out anyway. It all gave her the impression that plans don't hold up when faced with unpredictable reality.

Ben didn't plan. If he saw a burning building, he'd change into XLR8 and charge in there to rescue everyone before most others would even be able to comprehend what was happening.

Why am I smiling?!

Gwen forced herself to frown. She made a fist and managed to stop herself just before she slammed it onto her desk in frustration. The Doofus had somehow managed to creep into her thoughts once again, as he'd been doing all too often lately.

Gwen sighed exasperatedly. Without another moment's hesitation, she closed out of the calendar and shoved her laptop away from her. Then she pulled out her notebook to get started on her homework.

You win, Ben. I won't plan. I'll just do it.

November, Year 1

Two months into fifth grade, and Ben was already doing poorly. He had never done particularly well in school, but this year his grades were abysmal. What's worse was he knew he could just change into Grey Matter at any time and start acing his homework, but he still felt the need to avoid doing that because he knew Gwen and his grandfather wouldn't approve. Part of him thought he was being stupid. He hadn't even seen either of them since the last day of summer. But he followed through with his decision nonetheless.

His situation with bullies hadn't improved at all this year either. He wasn't in the same class as J.T. or Cash, but he'd end up trading insults with them in the hallways several times throughout the week, usually loud enough and with enough foul language for the nearest teacher to come running and break them up.

He hated those two, and their feud reached a breaking point one morning. He was walking to school, and a small distance from the front entrance, he saw them picking on a kid near some trees. They shoved the kid to the ground. Cash held out his hand, demanding the kid hand over his money. When he refused, J.T. kicked him.

Seeing the bullies treating some poor, defenseless kid like that set Ben off. Since the summer ended, he'd never wanted to go hero as much as he wanted to right then. Instead he clenched his fists and walked up to them. "Hey! Leave him alone!" he shouted as he approached them.

Hearing him, the bullies turned to face him. "Heh, great. It's the hero again!" Cash taunted. "What's the matter, you wanna end up hanging from a tree again?"

With the bullies no longer paying attention to him, the kid they'd been shaking down got up and ran for the school.

"I am so sick of you two," Ben said in a low, angry voice.

"Yeah? So what? You expect us to be afraid of a little shrimp like you?" J.T. said.

"No, I expect you to be the same morons you've always been," Ben retorted.

"Why you little-" Cash took a step forward and tried to shove Ben. Not budging an inch, Ben grabbed Cash's arm, head-butted him in the chin, and pulled his arm hard enough for him to stumble forward and fall down.

"Hey, you can't-" J.T. started, but an angry look from Ben shut him up. Ben took a few steps towards him and raised his fist.

And that's when a teacher shouted for them to stop. Startled, Ben looked over and saw the kid who'd ran away from them standing there with a teacher. He'd ran to get help.

Stupid tattletale.

The four of them ended up in the principal's office. Since none of this was new behavior for J.T. and Cash, they ended up with their usual punishments. Ben, on the other hand, was told he needed to start meeting with the school guidance counselor. Since the fight technically hadn't happened on school grounds, they weren't going to suspend him. But since fighting was the latest event in a string of bad behavior from him, he was told he needed help working out his 'anger issues.'

Unsurprisingly, being told that made him angry.

Ben's first meeting was after school that day. He sat in a chair across from the woman who let him in, his arms crossed defensively and his eyes refusing to meet hers.

"Hello, Ben. I'm Susan, and I'll be your guidance counselor for the time being," the woman introduced herself.

Ben said nothing, and still refused to look at her.

"I don't blame you for being upset, Ben. But try not to think of this as a punishment. I'd like to help you, if I could."

Still nothing from Ben.

"How old are you, Ben?"

"Thirty."

Susan chuckled. "Then I'm twenty."

Ben didn't seem amused.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters, Ben?" Susan asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Ben asked.

"It's only a question. I would like to get to know you a bit better."

Ben sighed, but didn't answer the question. He wasn't any more cooperative for Susan's next few questions either. To him, this was just another dumb thing his school was forcing him to do. They can force him to show up, but they can't force him to participate.

"What made you want to hit your friends today, Ben?" Susan asked, deciding to cut to the chase.

"They're not my friends," Ben responded.

"Okay, your classmates. J.T. and Cash. I've been told you've been fighting with them a lot lately. And they're not the only ones. It seems you've been having problems getting along with some other students too, and several teachers as well," Susan said, looking through a folder.

Ben didn't have anything to say to that.

"Ben, has something been bothering you lately?"

Again, no response.

"Are you not getting along with your new teacher this year? Are you having trouble with a certain subject? Do you miss someone?"

Ben looked at her when she asked that last question. He quickly looked away again, but it was enough for her to know her suspicion was accurate. As far as his file showed, there hadn't been any recent deaths in his family. It must be something a bit lighter.

"It's not unusual to get angry and lash out at others when you become separated from someone you care about. Who is it, Ben? Did a friend of yours move away?" she asked.

"No! It's nobody! I don't miss anybody!" Ben snapped.

"That's alright, we don't have to talk about it now," Susan said, holding up her hands. "But the point of these meetings is to help you, Ben. I think we can end here for today. Maybe we can talk a little more about this at our next meeting?"

"Whatever," Ben said. He stood up and left, slamming the door on his way out.

"Gwen. Gwen? Gwen!" Emily's voice shook her out of her daydream. She'd been sitting at her desk, staring out the window. She hadn't even noticed the class had ended.

"Oh, sorry," Gwen said, "I was just thinking about something."

"You working on some big side-project outside of school or something?" Emily asked.

"No, why?"

"I've just never seen you not paying attention in class so much."

Gwen felt a tinge of shame at that. Emily had been in Gwen's class every year since kindergarten, although they didn't really hang out all that much. Emily was wheelchair-bound and Gwen wasn't great with instruments, so their hobbies of karate and piano were never something they could share. But Emily was a nice person, and probably the closest thing Gwen had to a friend, even if they only talked to each other in school.

"So, what's going on?" Emily asked in a casual but clearly concerned tone.

"It's nothing," Gwen said. "I was just thinking about something that I did this summer."

"Oh? You said you went on a trip, right?" Emily asked as Gwen gathered her stuff and the two of them started to leave the classroom.

"Yeah. Road trip with my grandpa and my cousin," Gwen said. She was trying to make it sound like no big deal, but she smiled despite herself.

"Sounds neat," Emily said.

"…Yeah. It was."

"A seventy-eight?!" Gwen's mother was shocked. Gwen had hoped to keep the grade she got on her last quiz a secret, but as always, her mother eventually confronted her about it. Gwen sat on her bed and put her face in her hands, ready for the shaming to start. "What happened?" Natalie asked.

"Nothing! It was just a tough quiz is all," Gwen defended herself.

"Gwen, that's no excuse. You only get tough quizzes," her mother said.

"It's not even that bad! It's a little above the class average, even. And there are lots of these quizzes. It's no big."

"I wanna know how this happened. You should be studying plenty for these quizzes. Have you been following your schedules?" Gwen didn't say anything and didn't look up. Her mother narrowed her eyes at her. "Gwen?"

"…I…haven't been making them lately," Gwen admitted weakly.

"What?!" her mother shouted.

"Last summer didn't follow my schedule at all and it turned out fine!" Gwen retaliated immediately.

Natalie put her hands on her hips and exhaled angrily. "That sounds like something your cousin would say."

Gwen looked up at her with fury in her eyes. She knew she spoke the same way about Ben, but something about the disgust in her mother's voice really bugged her. "So what if it does?" she asked, matching her mother's aggressive tone.

Natalie met her gaze with confusion. Gwen always got angry when people compared her to her cousin, but usually because it was insulting to her. The way Gwen said that, it sounded more like she was angry because it was insulting to him.

"Gwen, I'm very disappointed in you," her mother said.

"Yeah, what else is new?" Gwen responded, immediately regretting it.

Natalie did not like her daughter's attitude, but she chalked it up to her just being upset by her performance in school. Gwen was very studious and very competitive. She didn't take these things in stride. "Just promise me you'll work harder, okay? You start middle school next year. You can't start letting your grades slip like this now."

"I know, Mom. And I will. I promise," Gwen said. Her mother nodded and left the room. Gwen lied down on her bed, exhausted.

"I do not sound like Ben," she said into her pillow.